At the first 2012 F1 race in Melbourne, seven different teams finished in the top ten places. Two weeks later in Sepang, Malaysia, nine different teams entered the top ten. Going into the third race this Sunday, there is no firm indication yet of any team having an definitive edge. When a mere second or two differentiates the fastest and slowest car in a field, you can be sure that the teams have their work cut out for them, and that the development engineers back home and those at the track have their hands full looking for that hundredth of a second advantage.

Admits team principal Ross Brawn, “In both races, our problems have been related to getting the tyres into the correct working window. At each race it was at different ends of the scale: in Melbourne, we overheated the tyres – it was under control on Friday, then we developed the set-up in a direction which did not prove helpful in the warmer conditions. In Malaysia, having done a lot of work in practice to make sure we didn’t suffer from the same problem, the cooler conditions on Sunday dropped us out of the window again.” Even so, these disappointments have enable the team to generate data that will help them get more satisfying results as the season progresses. In the meantime, we look forward to the third race of the 2012 F1 season this Sunday.